


Bother Figure

by actualreyofsunshine



Category: Superstore (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, He's Surprisingly Not Bad, Jonah Copes With Parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 15:55:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16768249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actualreyofsunshine/pseuds/actualreyofsunshine
Summary: Jonah's always been kind of awkward at this father stuff, but you couldn't say he never tried. And he's not that bad anyways.





	Bother Figure

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know how or why I wrote this.

"It's just the two of us for dinner today. Parker's with his dad," Amy said, as she backed out of the drive way and onto the street.

"Oh? I thought Adam doesn't get him until Thursday," Jonah replied, confused.

"He doesn't, but Parker has football tryouts this year, and Adam used to play in high school, so he offered to give Parker some extra practice. Plus, he coaches now, so it's all very Friday Night Lights," Amy replied.

Jonah nodded, trying not to let the dismay show on his face. "Cool," he said absently. "Cool cool cool cool cool."

Amy looked at him. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing!" Jonah replied, putting his hands up. "I just--he never told me he was trying out for football, and we were hanging out all weekend."

"I don't think barricading yourselves with Emma in her apartment, marathoning Marvel movies counts as 'hanging out'," Amy replied.

"We were having an extended discussion about the impact superhero movies have on our culture at large!" Jonah replied. "They're not a frivolous pursuit of our time, but a commentary on our anxieties as a society--"

"Ugh, I already got this speech from Emma. The three of you need to save it for Dina's podcast next week," Amy replied, as they pulled up to the union office. "Parker's going to be home late, and I have to be in Atlanta next week, so you're going to have to hold the fort down."

She leaned over and pecked him on the cheek gently before getting out of the car, leaving Jonah to stew in the passenger seat for a few minutes before he got out to join her.

\- - - -  
  
"Soooo, football huh?" Jonah asked, glancing sideways at Parker as he rummaged through the cupboards on Monday morning for cereal. "That's...that's a lot."

Parker looked over at Jonah and shrugged. "I mean, I guess," he replied. He was tall and lanky, with Amy's round face and wide smile. He had shot up over the summer to within a hair of Jonah's height, and he was still growing, a fact that inexplicably made Jonah's chest tighten as he frantically wished he could slow down time.

He was already dressed and ready for school, his backpack perched on the kitchen counter beside him as he pointed at the stove and asked, "Do you know how to turn this on?"

Jonah ignored him in favour of leaning awkwardly against the counter, in what Parker assumed was an attempt at being casual. "Football's...super neat..." he said again, trailing off as he pretended to scrutinize the marble grain of the counter top. Parker leaned forward to examine the dials on the stove closely, and gave Jonah a surreptitious look as he tried to assess the situation.

Jonah was agitated, which was clear from the way he was alternating between scratching his hair and fiddling with his shirt and leaning against the counter. It had something to do with football, which Parker knew was a topic on which Jonah was woefully lacking in knowledge, even though Jonah always seemed to know everything. And football, as Parker knew, was something he was doing with his father, which meant--

"Yeah, football's pretty neat," Parker said, as straightened up. "But mostly I'm into it for the statistics."

Jonah perked up instantly. "Statistics?" he asked, the familiar gleam back in his eyes. He plunked himself down onto the kitchen table expectantly. Parker sighed quietly and settled for his regular Cheerios, pouring himself a bowl as he tried to remember what he'd learned from listening to the Moneyball audio book.

\- - - -

Amy called him from the road later that morning, when Jonah was busy wrangling the finer details of the employee vacation policy they'd been working on for months. He picked up the phone absently, half-expecting it to be Glenn, who was coping with his retirement about as well as had been expected.

"You know you can't bet on sports games, right?"

"And good morning to you too, Amy," Jonah acknowledged. He couldn't help himself. He smiled widely as swiveled his desk chair to look out the window. The view from his office was droll, nothing but the concrete parking lot, but hearing Amy's voice made it brighter and more pleasant.

"Parker told me that you spent an hour and a half this morning, quizzing him about football statistics?" Amy asked. He could hear the distant sounds of traffic from the other end, and wondered where she was. "You do know that gambling on sports games is illegal in the state of Missouri? Especially high school football games?"

Oh. "Well, I wasn't going to do that..." Jonah said hesitantly. "I was just, trying to talk to him. Parker, that is."

"Mmmhm, and this would have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I told you last week that Parker was getting some extra football coaching with Adam?"

Jonah could feel his stomach sinking, and he tried not to squirm in his chair. "No?" he tried, cringing as he heard how uncertain his own voice sounded.

Amy 'hmmmm'ed again, knowingly, and Jonah felt the mildest pinprick of frustration. "Well, it's not as if athletics is exactly my area of expertise," he argued. "Not the physical aspects of it anyway. I'm the numbers guy. The intellectal. The one who helps you with your homework and tells you the minute details about Napoleon's day-to-day life when he was in exile."

He could hear her sigh on the other end, and he tried again. "Look, he's growing up. It's not like he's five years old and willing to watch the extended edition of The Fog Of War on DVD with me anymore."

"I forgot all about that. God, I have the weirdest son."

Jonah swallowed. "Look, the point is, I'm just afraid that I can't really relate to all of this jock stuff sometimes, that's all."  
  
There was a pause on the other end as Amy considered this. "It's just football, Jonah, it's not like he's dropping all of his AP classes and taking the next carpool down to Mexico for spring break or anything. And I don't think going back into gambling is the best way to cope with your increasing uncertainty about your place in Parker's life," she replied. "You do know that you can talk to him about this stuff right?"

"He's fourteen, and you know I'm not the best with talking about emotions," Jonah said, sighing in defeat. "I'm probably just being stupid about this anyway."

"Oh, you are. But Parker's a pretty astute kid, he'll pick up that something's off sooner rather than later. And if you don't talk to him, it'll just be this weird thing between you two that he'll eventually have to exorcise from his soul. Probably by writing a novel about it for some fancy MFA writing program at an expensive private college somewhere. Or an article for the New Yorker."

Jonah felt a shudder of alarm go through his body. "Oh god, not the New Yorker," he said, genuinely aghast. He didn't hear Amy bite her cheek and stifle a laugh. "You're right, I'll talk to him when I get home today."

"Love you," Amy said.

"Love you too," Jonah replied, smiling to himself as he put the phone down.

\- - -

It was late by the time Jonah got home, take away in hand. Ever since Emma had left, it had just been Jonah, Amy and Parker. But on days when Amy was away, it was just the two of them.

The house was dark, but Jonah could hear the sounds of the TV from the living room as he let himself inside. "Parker?" he called, as he switched the foyer light on and dropped his bag on the floor beside his shoes. "I brought take away. I know you don't like Italian, so I got you both Chinese and Mexican, if you felt like you couldn't decide."

He walked into the living room and found Parker curled up on the couch, attention rapt on the TV. "Parker?" he tried again.

"Shhhh," Parker replied, holding up his hand. Jonah looked at the TV to find Robert McNamara, talking about the implacability of human nature, and he realized with a start this was The Fog of War.

"I thought you decided you didn't like Robert McNamara," Jonah mused as he set the take away on the coffee table. "Or US foreign policy in general."

"I don't," Parker scoffed in response, as he paused the DVD. "But that doesn't mean it's not an informative documentary series."

Jonah raised an eyebrow, and failed to hide the smile on his face. "Oh? I always thought you just kind of put up with me when I wanted to watch it."

Parker shrugged as he reached for the Mexican. "I did," he replied. "But between this and Pod Save America, I'm really acing my AP World History class. Even if most of my essays are about how America is an unjust imperial power trying to unduly influence other countries' politics."

Jonah grinned. "I don't know whether I should be proud or alarmed," he replied. He reached for the remote and flipped the channel to football. "Want to watch?" he asked, gesturing at the TV.

Parker looked at him, confused. "I thought you were mostly a numbers guy," he said, settling back on the couch with his take away on his lap.

"I am, but it's never too late to learn the physical aspects of a sport either," Jonah replied. "I even looked up who's playing today and everything. Apparently Atlanta has a team? Who knew?" 

**Author's Note:**

> Jonah as a parent sounds like it has an endless potential for fun, ngl. 
> 
> I do not in fact know if gambling on sports games is allowed in Missouri or not. I would also like to apologize for any Fog of War related inaccuracies, it's been a decade since I watched the whole thing.
> 
> If you liked this, you should hmu at actualreyofsunshine.tumblr.com.


End file.
